Thais regain form, tame Germany to end nine-game winless streak

Thais regain form, tame Germany to end nine-game winless streak

TOP GUN: Thailand's Onuma Sittirak, No.6, celebrates after scoring a point. (FIVB photo)
TOP GUN: Thailand's Onuma Sittirak, No.6, celebrates after scoring a point. (FIVB photo)

Thailand claimed their first win of the 2021 FIVB Women's Nations League preliminary round, beating Germany 3-1 in Rimini, Italy, on Saturday.

The hard-fought victory ended a run of nine straight defeats in the annual FIVB tournament held in the "Rimini Bubble" due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The Thai team dropped the thrilling opening set 26-24 but took the next three 25-21, 25-21, 25-16 to capture their first three points of this year's campaign.

Onuma Sittirak was in top form, scoring 20 points to lead the Thai attack, while Pleumjit Thinkaow added 15.

Lina Alsmeier was Germany's highest scorer with 18 points, while Kimberly Drewniok had 10 points.

"After three weeks in Italy, after many training sessions and a proper rest, we finally showed our volleyball," said Sutadta Cheuwulim.

"We had nothing to lose, we were all trying our best. We were trying to help each other on the court. Our goal was to earn at least one win. Today, we got the chance to realise that and managed to do it."

Germany's Alsmeier said: "Actually I don't think that the Thai team's game was a big surprise. We knew what was coming. But we didn't play our game, especially we didn't work well in block-defence and then it's very hard to play against the teams like Thailand.

"We have to start to work harder on our block-defence system and have more patience. We have to come back stronger," she added.

Thailand play Poland on Sunday at 00.30am and will conclude the fourth week of competition with a match against Brazil on Monday, also at 00.30am. Channel 3HD (33) will how both matches live.

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